Eastern West Indies (1624–1635 CE): Rival Empires and New Settlements

Geopolitical Shifts in the Caribbean

Conditions became increasingly favorable for European colonial exploits in the Eastern West Indies during this period due to Spain’s preoccupation with the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) in Europe. Exploiting this vulnerability, other European powers—particularly the Dutch, English, and French—expanded aggressively into previously uncontested Spanish territories.

Dutch Expansion and Trade

Beginning in 1621, the Dutch aggressively challenged Spanish hegemony in the Americas, notably in Brazil(temporarily under Spanish control from 1580 to 1640). By 1625, the Dutch had established settlements in the Leeward Islands, specifically Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten (part of the divided island of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten), and Saba, along with the strategically valuable island of Curaçao, off the Venezuelan coast. These territories significantly expanded the Dutch presence beyond their existing holdings in the Guianas and along the Venezuelan coast at Araya and Cumana.

The Dutch also facilitated the spread of sugarcane cultivation throughout the Caribbean after 1625, carrying this valuable crop from South America to their Caribbean territories. Sugar rapidly became one of the region’s most valuable commodities, frequently compared in worth to musk, pearls, and spices. The Dutch West India Company’s holdings in the Virgin Islands, known collectively as the Dutch Virgin Islands, became notable centers for sugar production.

English and French Colonization Efforts

Simultaneously, the English and French moved swiftly to capitalize on Spain's distractions. The English successfully established a colony on Barbados in 1625 and made an unsuccessful attempt to settle Tobago. Expanding their territorial foothold, they occupied Nevis in 1628, followed by Antigua and Montserrat in 1632. An English effort to colonize St. Lucia initially begun in 1605 had failed due to strong resistance by the indigenous Kalinago. Another attempt in 1638 also proved unsuccessful.

Conflict and Cooperation on St. Kitts

Saint Christopher Island (St. Kitts) became a focal point of European rivalry. While initial contacts dated back to Columbus and a short-lived French Huguenot settlement in 1538, permanent colonization began in earnest with an English settlement in 1623, followed closely by the French in 1625. The two European powers briefly united in 1626 to preemptively massacre the local Kalinago inhabitants, thwarting a planned Kalinago attack. After this brutal event, the English and French partitioned the island, with the English holding the central region and the French controlling the northern and southern portions.

Long-term Implications

This era marked a decisive shift from a primarily Spanish-controlled Caribbean toward a more fragmented region characterized by multiple competing European powers. The rapid expansion of sugar plantations began reshaping the economic landscape, setting the stage for increased importation of African slaves and profoundly influencing the cultural and social development of the Eastern West Indies.

The English and the French also move rapidly to take advantage of Spanish weakness in the Americas and overcommitment in Europe.

The English settle Barbados in 1625 and try an unsuccessful settlement on Tobago.

They take possession of Nevis in 1628 and Antigua and Montserrat in 1632.

They establish a colony on St. Lucia in 1605, but it is destroyed by the Caribs; they try again in 1638 to establish a colony but are again unsuccessful.

The English colonize the Lesser Antilles islands of Antigua in 1632, with Thomas Warner as the first governor, and ...

...Montserrat, which falls under English control when a group of Irish suffering anti-Catholic violence in Nevis, many of whom had been forcibly removed from Ireland as indentured servants, settle here.

The import of African slaves, soon to be common to most Caribbean islands, begins early.

Settlers raise tobacco, indigo, ginger, and sugarcane as cash crops.

Eastern West Indies (1636–1647 CE): Sugar Revolutions and Colonial Rivalries

Introduction of the Sugar Plantation Economy

The mid-seventeenth century marked a critical turning point for the Eastern West Indies as the sugar plantation economy, reliant on enslaved labor, was introduced by the Dutch following their expulsion from Brazil in 1640. This economic transformation could not have come at a more crucial time for English and French colonists, whose precarious agricultural economies—previously dependent largely on tobacco—were increasingly threatened by competition from the mainland colonies.

Caribbean tobacco struggled to compete with superior products from the mid-Atlantic colonies, prompting severe economic strain and population decline as settlers migrated to more profitable regions. However, the introduction of the sugar plantation system revitalized the colonial economies, ushering in the period known historically as the "Caribbean Sugar Revolutions." These interrelated agricultural, demographic, social, and economic changes dramatically reshaped the Caribbean, significantly elevating its global economic and political importance.

Expansion of European Plantations and Slave Labor

The adoption of the sugar plantation model by the English and French was directly influenced by the Portuguese experiences in Brazil, while the Dutch provided the crucial infrastructure for the rapidly growing sugar industry through their well-established networks. The Dutch West India Company supplied the necessary enslaved West African laborers, accelerating the region’s demographic transformation. Tens of thousands of Africans were forcibly brought into the Eastern West Indies, profoundly reshaping its social and cultural landscape.

French Colonial Expansion

Under the auspices of the French West India Company, chartered by Cardinal Richelieu in 1635, the French successfully expanded their Caribbean presence. They established strongholds on Martinique and Guadeloupe, from which they would later spread to St. Barthelemy, St. Martin, Grenada, St. Lucia, and the western part of Hispaniola, which Spain formally ceded to France by the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697.

The Arrival of Yellow Fever

This era also witnessed the devastating introduction of yellow fever, first definitively recorded in the New World on the island of Barbados in 1647. The virus, originating from Africa, was likely brought to the Caribbean through the Columbian Exchange, along with its mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti, by enslaved Africans. Unlike the African populations who had developed some immunity, European colonists suffered high mortality rates, significantly impacting colonial societies and economies.

Conclusion

The era from 1636 to 1647 marked profound changes in the Eastern West Indies, setting enduring patterns of agricultural production, labor exploitation, and demographic transformation. The establishment of sugar plantations laid a new economic foundation, making the Caribbean a strategically crucial region for competing European empires and marking the beginning of its long-term dependence on enslaved African labor.

Eastern West Indies (1648–1659 CE): Intensified Colonial Rivalries and the Rise of Sugar Economies

End of the Thirty Years' War and Renewed Colonial Focus

The conclusion of Europe's devastating Thirty Years' War in 1648, formalized by the Peace of Westphalia, allowed European powers—particularly England, France, and the Netherlands—to intensify their focus and redirect their military and economic resources toward overseas expansion in the Caribbean. This shift significantly escalated competition among colonial powers for dominance over strategic territories and lucrative trade routes, particularly those linked to the rapidly growing sugar industry.

England's Western Design and the Capture of Jamaica

Under the English Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell initiated the ambitious "Western Design" in 1655, aimed at weakening Spanish colonial power and asserting English dominance in the Caribbean. This campaign resulted in the capture of Jamaica from Spain in the same year, marking a pivotal shift in regional power dynamics. Jamaica quickly emerged as a crucial colony, becoming another central hub for sugar production and significantly enhancing England's economic influence in the Caribbean.

Dutch Economic Dominance

The Dutch, maintaining their formidable economic position, continued to dominate the slave trade and sugar commerce, thereby facilitating the plantation economies of other European colonies. The Dutch West India Company provided the enslaved African laborers essential for sugar cultivation and secured critical trade networks, reinforcing their strategic importance within the Caribbean colonial system.

Expansion and Fortification of French Territories

During this era, the French solidified and expanded their territorial presence, particularly on Martinique and Guadeloupe, reinforcing these colonies against rival incursions and potential slave revolts. French colonists intensified sugar production, transforming these islands into prosperous centers of economic activity and colonial wealth.

Economic Prosperity and Human Cost

This era witnessed substantial economic prosperity driven by sugar cultivation, accompanied by increased importation of enslaved Africans to sustain plantation operations. Conditions for enslaved laborers became increasingly brutal, characterized by severe hardship, high mortality rates, and oppressive plantation regimes. In stark contrast, European plantation owners and merchants accumulated vast wealth, further entrenching social and economic inequalities.

Continued Impact of Yellow Fever

The devastating impact of yellow fever, first definitively recorded in 1647 on Barbados, continued throughout this period, significantly affecting colonial populations and workforce productivity. The disease disproportionately impacted European colonists, who lacked immunity, and contributed to demographic instability and economic disruptions within plantation societies.

Conclusion

The period 1648–1659 was marked by heightened colonial competition, significant territorial shifts, and economic expansion centered around sugar production. The establishment and fortification of European colonies, coupled with the tragic escalation of enslaved African labor, decisively shaped the socio-economic landscape of the Eastern West Indies, laying the foundation for future patterns of regional development and exploitation.

European plantations require laws to regulate the plantation system and the many slaves imported to work on the plantations.

This legal control is the most oppressive for slaves inhabiting colonies where they outnumber their European masters and where rebellion is persistent, such as Jamaica.

During the early colonial period, rebellious slaves are harshly punished, with sentences including death by torture; less serious crimes such as assault, theft, or persistent escape attempts are commonly punished with mutilations, such as the cutting off of a hand or a foot.

Slaves can only be freed with the consent of their master under British rule,  and therefore freedom for slaves is rare.

British colonies are able to establish laws through their own legislatures, and the assent of the local island governor and the Crown.

British law considers slaves to be property, and thus does not recognize marriage for slaves, family rights, education for slaves, or the right to religious practices such as holidays.

British law denies all rights to freed slaves, with the exception of the right to a jury trial.

Otherwise, freed slaves have no right to own property, vote or hold office, or even enter some trades.

The development of agriculture in the Caribbean requires a large workforce of manual laborers, which the Europeans have found by taking advantage of the slave trade in Africa.

The Atlantic slave trade brings African slaves to British, Dutch, French, Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Americas, including the Caribbean.

Slaves are brought to the Caribbean from the early sixteenth century until the end of the nineteenth century.

The majority of slaves are brought to the Caribbean colonies between 1701 and 1810.

Abolitionists in the Americas and in Europe become vocal opponents of the slave trade throughout the nineteenth century.

The importation of slaves to the colonies is often outlawed years before the end of the institution of slavery itself.

It is well into the nineteenth century before many slaves in the Caribbean will be legally free.

The trade in slaves is abolished in the British Empire through the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807.

Men, women and children who are already enslaved in the British Empire will remain slaves, however, until Britain passes the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833.

When the Slavery Abolition Act comes into force in 1834, roughly seven hundred thousand slaves in the British West Indies will immediately become free; other enslaved workers will be freed several years later after a period of forced apprenticeship.

Slavery is abolished in the Dutch Empire in 1814.

Spain abolishes slavery in its empire in 1811, with the exceptions of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo; Spain ends the slave trade to these colonies in 1817, after being paid ₤400,000 by Britain.

Slavery itself will not be abolished in Cuba until 1886.

France will abolish slavery in its colonies in 1848.